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That demeanour drops only momentarily as he talks excitedly about the prospect of coming up against 35-year-old Cech, a man he has admired since he was a child, and who has achieved endless success within the game.

But when it comes to the serious matter of managerial change and the departure of Mark Warburton, Smith is entirely no-nonsense, when it comes to his belief that the players must take some responsibility – and have a duty to perform better for the next man.

“As I said, the buck stops with us. That is the best way we can put it. There is no secret that there has been managerial changes in recent times,” he said. “But the players are the ones going out there for results, grafting for wins. We have to take responsibility for that ourselves.

“We do need to do better for the next man, whoever that may be. We need to work hard. That has been the reaction of the boys in training.

“I cannot fault the players for the response we have seen in training.

“It is difficult for me to talk about what qualities the next manager might have, because I am not somebody who has any say in the next appointment. I will just work hard for whoever walks through the door. Hopefully it will give us a lift.”

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Smith, unsurprisingly, is not short of respect for Gary Brazil, the Forest caretaker boss, who will take charge of first team affairs again this weekend.

And he takes encouragement from the performance they produced in Brazil’s first game in charge, when they secured a 0-0 draw at Leeds, with a performance that seemed to see them take far fewer risks at the back, by putting themselves under pressure to play the ball out.

“We just took stock, as players, of where we were. We were away at Elland Road in front of a big crowd and it was difficult to get messages across,” said Smith.

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“We communicated well on the pitch and organised ourselves well. It was not something we specifically changed, I think we just thought to ourselves as individuals that, if something was not on, let’s not take any chances.

Gary Brazil is interviewed after the 0-0 draw (Image: Dan Westwell)

“A clean sheet was brilliant for confidence both for me and the boys in the back four. It was the sixth of the season – I have been keeping tabs on that.

“It was really nice to get that and it is safe to say number seven would be very nice on Sunday.

“You cannot lose if the opposition don’t score! If I am selected, that is what I will be gunning for.”

Forest head into the game as significant underdogs. Smith regards it as being one of the biggest games of his career – but believes Arsenal must still afford them some respect.

“It would be brilliant to play against the A-list players, the ones who are earning the big bucks and playing on Sky every week,” he said. “As a young player, that is honestly what you look forward to. But whoever they put out, it is going to be a really big test.

“I don’t think it is intimidating. They have got our respect because they are where they are – and these players are there for a reason. The top pros get to the top of the game.

“They have our respect – but we are on the same field, we are competing to win the game and get through to the next round.

Jordan Smith (Image: Dan Westwell)

“As enjoyable as it will be to play them and as much as they will have our respect, they have to do the same the other way around.

“Anything can happen and we are gearing up to win this game on Sunday.

“I think they will give us respect too. It would spur us on if they did not. But they are Arsenal players and they know how to win games of football. They will do what they normally do to win games of football – and that is the greatest respect they can give us.

“They are coming to the City Ground and this can be an intimidating place.”